It’s weird that we haven’t live tweeted a Harry Palmer movie yet. It’s weird that even when we do start to live tweet the Harry Palmer movies, we’re starting with Billion Dollar Brain because themes. It just so happens that the third Harry Palmer film dropped during 1967 and we’re currently exploring the spy films of 1967 through the Year of the Spy 1967 retrospective.

This works because A) Harry Palmer movies are not especially beholden to each other; B) Billion Dollar Brain is the most Bond-like of the bunch; and C) I said so.

The Billion Dollar Brain was directed by Ken Russell, marking the controversial director’s only outing as a mainstream director-for-hire. It’s an odd fit for the director, but some of the auteur’s flamboyant touches remain even filtered through the pop-culture spy craze.

Join #Bond_age_ on Wednesday, August 16th at 9pm ET for the Billion Dollar Brain live tweet. Follow #Bond_age_ hashtag.

I’m still struggling to find skippable episodes. Pam and I had a meeting of the minds and we decided to air episodes 6 and 7 from the second season of Remington Steele. We skipped episode 5. The twist here is that the main attraction for this pair of episodes happens to be the second episode “Love Among the Steele.”

First a recap of episode 5: Someone wants to frame Steele for murder and there are no overt references to classic cinema. Moving along…

First up, we’ve got Season 2, Episode 6 – “A Steele at Any Price.” This one’s fun because Remington Steele indulges his love of the heist in a case about stolen paintings. He gets to tease his past a little bit and solicit some Laura eyerolls. As you can imagine, this episode boasts references to a couple of classic heist films.

You’ll not want to miss “Love Among the Steele” which has the second slot of the evening. This one is essentially the “Jon Voight’s car” episode of Remington Steele. The real attraction here is the escalating Laura/Steele sexual tension and rampant double entendres. All this stuffed inside a wacky narrative which provides a platform for some excellent screwball moments.

Dust off your lady fedoras. This week it’s time to do some more investigating with Remington Steele. Join #Bond_age_ for the 10th Volume of Remington Steele live tweets on Wednesday, August 9th @ 9pm ET. We’ll be watching Episodes 6 and 7 from Season 2. Follow #Bond_age_TV hashtag.

In the Tom Cruise filmography, there’s one film that’s often disassociated from the star’s 1980’s output. Sure, you’ve got your Top Guns and Days of Thunders, your Risky Businesses and All the Right Moves. But how does one place Ridley Scott’s 1985 epic fantasy Legend in the Tom Cruise oeuvre? That’s what we’re going to find out.

Wednesday @ 9pm ET, the #Bond_age_ crew is going unicorn deep in the realm of mystical fantasy. Our first voyage into these lightly trodden waters since our bit of time traveling with Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits. If I’m being completely honest I don’t remember much about this movie other than Mia Sara (because let’s face it, we all had a Mia Sara crush in the 80’s), sparkly unicorns and Tim Curry. Which is more than enough to make it our feature presentation for Tom Cruising: Volume 5.

We’re also welcoming another live tweet host into the #Bond_age_ HQ this week. Alec Deacon (@MrAlecDeacon) will be steering this week’s pleasure cruise because he is A) a huge Tom Cruise fan and B) another warm bodied live tweet host that can fill in when I’m on the lam.

Originally, I’d planned on a little Diana Rigg action this week, but the chosen film that once existed on YouTube now can only be viewed in some mis-framed abomination that I just will not allow on my #Bond_age_ broadcast network. Never fear, I’ve taken the opportunity to order a UK DVD of the movie and Diana will make her Ladies’ Night appearance at a later date. What this means for you more immediately is that Jill St. John got moved up to fill Emma Peel’s shoes. I realize that this is not a one-for-one swap, but I have faith that the film that we are scheduled to view this week will make up for the Jill St. John to Diana Rigg deficit.

Jill St. John’s most visible big screen role was of course Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever. But here are a few things about Jill St. John that you might not realize.

At age 11 in 1951, Jill St. John (born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim) appeared in two episodes of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. She signed her first motion picture contract with Universal at 16 and made her big-screen debut in Summer Love (1958) starring opposite John Saxon. She received a 1964 Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Come Blow Your Horn (which also featured a guy named Frank Sinatra). She also appeared in the first two episodes of the Batman television series as the Riddler’s moll Molly and appeared in “The Yada Yada” episode of Seinfeld withhusband Robert Wagner.

Our Jill St. John movie of the week is the Rod Taylor-starring semi-sincere spy thriller The Liquidator (1965). Dropped in the middle of the spy-crazed 60’s, The Liquidator features a title-track sung by Shirley Bassey and a Lalo Schifrin score. Schifrin claimed to have consciously distanced himself from the Barry-style scoring done for the Bond films. Taylor plays Sergeant “Boysie” Oakes, an agent that literally “oopses” himself into the employ of the British secret service to eliminate leaks within the agency. Off the record, of course. Things go well until Jill St. John enters the picture (Isn’t that always the case? Get it? CASE? TIFFANY CASE?) and Oakes finds himself in over his head.

Join #Bond_age_ for the Ladies’ Night live tweet of THE LIQUIDATOR on July 19th @ 9pm ET. Follow #Bond_age_ hashtag. An embed will appear on the Programming tab of this site.

It’s been some time since we revisited the Laura and Remington show. We had some legit Bond business to attend to with all the milestone anniversaries. Great for #Bond_age_ fans, less so for #Bond_age_TV fans. Today I bring good tidings and more #SteeleTweet. This week we’re diving deeper into Remington Steele‘s second season. We’re diving so deep, indeed, that we’re hitting the next two episodes of the season. It might take us some time to navigate Season 2 because Remington Steele truly hits its stride with consistent quality and recognizable supporting players. There’s a reasons most fans cite Season 2 as the best of the show’s five-year run.

First up is a certifiable classic Steele episode called “Red Holt Steele.” What the episode lacks in classic movie references and guest stars, it makes up for with Steele and Laura action. You’ll see. (Bonus points for calling out the one standout movie reference.) The plot concerns a woman who thinks someone’s out to blow up her head husband’s aircraft company. Most notable in this episode perhaps is the director, Kevin Connor, who directed such 1970’s adventure classics as The Land that Time Forgot and At the Earth’s Core (starring Caroline Munro and other people, but let’s be honest. We watched that movie for Caroline).

Filling out our bill is the frenetic “Altared Steele,” an episode that more than makes up for the lack of supporting star players and movie references in “Red Holt Steele.” The high-concept premise is perfect for the Remington Steele detective company, an old fashioned whodunnit (or more accurately whosgonnadoit). An amnesiac believes one of his five ex-wives is trying to kill him — the only problem is which one. This episode features at least four movie references and Designing Women‘s Delta Burke, regular TV player Carole White, and Malcolm in the Middle mom Jane Kaczmarek.

Dust off your lady fedoras. This week it’s time to do some more investigating with Remington Steele. Join #Bond_age_ for the 9th Volume of Remington Steele live tweets on Wednesday, July 12th @ 9pm ET. We’ll be watching Episodes 3 and 4 from Season 2. Follow #Bond_age_TV hashtag.